100 Theme Challenge ( B26 )
by Dragon Slayer 's Girl
Summary: This will be a seires of connected one-shots revolving around the B26 (BelxFran) pairing. I rewrote the first chapter and plan on continuing it. WARNINGS: OCCness, Shounen-ai (BOYXBOY), swearing and a pinch of graphicness. Just a pinch. This is also on AO3.


**NEW AND IMPROVED~~**

**Haha so I decided to rewrite this because I wrote it a long time ago and it sucked and I never continued it. I felt bad so I edited it to make it better and I will now continue it! For real this time. The beginning is the same but most of the rest has changed.**

**This will be a series of connected one-shots that each follow a different theme, all based on the Fran x Bel (B26) pairing. They will be of varying length and quality. WARNING: Some graphic content, just a bit, because you can't have Bel without it, and some swearing because you just can't have Squalo wihout swearing. Also, ****OOCness and Shonen-ai (boyxboy)**

100 Theme Challenge Theme 1: Introduction

Belphegor had always been quite fascinated with Fran, ever since he first saw the young boy.

**~BelxFran~BelxFran~BelxFran~**

Belphegor had detested the idea of traveling to France to retrieve Fran. He didn't care that his memories of the future depicted the Froggy as his companion. In fact, he wanted nothing to do with Fran. They had Mammon now so they had no need for a snot-nosed brat like that uncute-kohai. Why would they need two illusionists anyways? Even so, Xanxus threatened him and- as much as he didn't want to admit it- Bel was afraid of his boss. So, he went with the other Varia members on their so called 'mission'.

After a seemingly long plane ride- in which Xanxus nearly killed the flight attendant because they didn't have any steak on the plane and Lussuria flirted with almost every man there- they arrived in France. "Ushishishi~ Where did you say the little brat lives again?", Bel questioned Squalo with his signature smirk painted on his face.

"VOOOIII! If you would listen once in a while instead of running your mouth like you always do, you would have remembered!"

Bel, undeterred by Squalo's yelling, grinned. "The prince thinks Squ-Squ should calm down before he pops a blood vessel~"

Squalo's eyebrow twitched, but he decided to ignore the annoying blond. The silver-haired man knew that if they didn't shut up, Xanxus would get angry. And when Xanxus is angry, everybody pays for it one way or another...

After purchasing a map at a local convenience store, and scaring the crap out of the customers as well as the workers, the group ventured into the relatively isolated area ("GOD DAMN IT WHY IS IT SO HARD TO FIND THIS FUCKING PLACE ON A MAP?!" "Calm down Squ-Squ~" "DON"T FUCKING CALL ME THAT YOU PSYCHO BASTARD!" "SHUT UP TRASH.") that none of them could pronounce the name of. There was no sign of life, just wild grass and trees, along with the occasional bush.

They eventually came across a single house amidst all of the vegetation. There was a sickly old woman out front and Belphegor briefly wondered how that old woman could possibly take care of a young boy. Because, believe it or not, Bel actually does think about things other than blood and death. Surprise, surprise. He's human too. He's just a human who happens to like blood and guts and killing; that doesn't mean all he thinks about has to fit into those catagories.

They (And by they, I mean Xanxus) decided to split up and search for the boy, since they couldn't exactly ask his grandmother where he was without arousing suspicion. It was decided that Squalo would search with Bel ("VVVOOOOIIIII HELL NOOOOOO"), Mammon would go with Levi ("Good grief...") and Xanxus would be alone ("...")

Squalo grudgingly walked alongside Belphegor, who was humming happily and skipping like a child. "What the fuck are you so happy about Belphegor?"

Bel looked over at him (at least Squalo assumed he was looking at him. You can never tell with all that damn hair covering his eyes) and smirked. Squalo shivered and immediately wished he hadn't asked. He looked away and added, "You're a creepy bastard ya know that?"

"Shishishi~ Squ-Squ doesn't understand how I think~ I'm happy because I'll finally get my target back~" And that was true... somewhat. Even though Belphegor started out not wanting to meet the younger version of his companion, he found himself genuinely excited to see him for some reason. Bel didn't quite understand it so he just told himself that he wants the boy back so he can continue throwing knives at him like he did in the future. That was fun. However, he knew that wasn't entirely true. He felt like there was another reason that he couldn't place and he decided to not think about it, because he's a Prince, and Princes can do whatever they want, so he decided to just go with it.

"Psht. I bet you just want Fran back because he's the only one that puts up with your shit," Squalo snorted.

Bel picked this time to laugh loudly like a maniac. "Squ-Squ just doesn't get it shishishi~~ He doesn't know how good it feels to keep throwing knives over and over in hopes of hitting Froggy's flesh~ Ahh the challenge makes it even better when I catch him at one of the rare times he has his guard down and dig the knife deep into his skin, ahh~" Belphegor looked over at Squalo, who by now had stopped walking and looked thoroughly creeped out and pissed off. Mostly pissed off. Bel decided to continue anyways. He licked his lips like the thought was turning him on, which honestly it was a little. "It's better than sex~~"

Squalo growled loudly at that and made a move as if to punch the blond in the face, but Belphegor was too quick. He was able to dodge easily before he ran away, giggling loudly when Squalo chased him. _'Annoying Squ-Squ is so fun~ But not as fun as annoying Froggy~', _Bel thought and he didn't have time to wonder why that Frog suddenly popped up in his thoughts before Squalo was yelling again. "FUCKING PSYCHO, DONT EVER SAY SOMETHING SO GROSS AND DISGUSTING TO ME DO YOU UNDERSTAND YOU LITTLE SHIT?!" Belphegor responded by laughing even louder.

Eventually Belphegor stumbled upon a river. He stopped running and Squalo ran into him on accident. "WHAT THE FUCK? Warn someone before you suddenly stop like that!" Belphegor wasn't listening. He was too busy staring at the small boy that was standing still in the river. He was just standing there mumbling to himself. Belphegor couldn't hear what he was murmering but he decided the small illusionist was pretty entranced in what he was saying to himself because he didn't even notice the two large men standing a few feet behind him. Or maybe Fran just didn't care. Was he really a careless little bastard even as a child? Bel smirked at that and called out to him. "Hey, Froggy!"

Squalo grumbled at being ignored as Bel frowned slightly. The Froggy didn't turn around when his name was called. Why did the boy just continue to stand there? "Oi, Froggy? Can't you hear the Prince?"

Belphegor did not get a response, but he was able to make out one sentence from the boy's mumblings. "Why is some guy yelling at a frog? And did he say he sees a Prince? What a weirdo, I'll just pretend I don't hear him...," he drawled in his impassive voice that, to Bel's surprise, seemed a bit higher than he remembered. He had just assumed Fran always had the same voice since his childhood, same pitch and everything.

Bel's eyebrow twitched and he picked up a small rock to throw at the teal-haired child. It hit the kid's abnormally large apple-shaped hat and the boy cringed before turning to face Bel and Squalo with the same exact expressionless eyes he always had. Belphegor found himself relieved that the Frog's eyes looked the same but didn't know why.

"Hey, yeah I was talking to you stupid Froggy shishishi~ Come on now so we can go back to Italy~"

"...What are you talking about." It was supposed to be a question but it sounded like a statement coming from the boy's toneless voice. Belphegor smirked wider at hearing the annoying impassiveness again. It was making him giddy.

"Stop playing dumb, Froggy. Get out of the lake so we can leave. The Prince doesn't like it here so hurry up."

"..." Fran didn't respond and turned away so that his back was facing the two men. He talked to himself again as if turning around made it impossible for Bel to hear him. "This guy is a whacko. I'll just pretend he's not there, maybe he'll leave on his own if I ignore him long enough..."

Belphegor growled and took out a knife before hurling it at the boy. It hit his hat, just like the rock. This time the boy didn't respond and just continued mumbling to himself, almost like he was expecting it. Bel stomped his foot on the ground childishly. "Hmph! The Prince doesn't have all day so come oooooon! Stupid uncute-kohai!"

Squalo also growled. "Shut the hell up, can't you see you're creeping the kid out?! You'll make him not want to leave with us. Just shut up and let me do the talking." Belphegor glared at him and Squalo could only tell because he felt those eyes burning holes into him so deep that he swore Bel could see into his soul.

As Squalo and Belphegor bickered, Fran turned around again to look at them. He stared particularly hard at Bel and when Bel noticed, he stopped listening to Squalo in favor of staring at the boy curiously. His teal eyes, which matched his hair perfectly, conveyed no emotion at all as he inspected the blond man. His apple-shaped hat looked quite heavy, but the way Fran easily lifted his head to look at the taller man suggested that he was used to the weight.

Silence filled the atmosphere for a brief moment when Squalo finally shut up and Bel took that time to stare at Fran with obscured orbs. The young illusionist stared back blankly, not saying or doing anything else. Bel raised one eyebrow in question even though nobody could see it. The young boy eventually broke the silence.

"Hey... you look familiar. Have I seen you somewhere fallen-prince-sempai?"

Bel paused and was stuck between confused and angry. He decided to let the insult slip this one time and just be confused. "Froggy? What do you mean...?"

Fran blinked. "I asked if I have seen you somewhere before. I remember your face for some reason but not the other guy's."

Squalo grunted argumentatively, not liking being referred to as second to Belphegor. Nobody was listening to him though so he left to find the others and tell them that they found Fran, grumbling and bitching the whole way.

"Wait, Froggy, you don't remember what happened in the future?" Bel tilted his head to the side.

"What. Okay I was right, you are crazy. Time travel is impossible."

"..." Bel was shocked. He didn't know what to say. Could it really be that Fran actually did lose his memories of what happened in the future? But why only him?

"Why don't you remember?", Belphegor finally forced out after a long pause of silence. The thought of his Froggy not remembering all of the time they spent together made Bel feel a strange aching sensation in his gut. he didn't know how to explain it or why he felt it, he just knew it was there and he didn't like it.

_"Remember_ what?"

Bel sighed as he looked down at the small boy, unable to do anything but repeat what he already said because he was so confused and shocked that he didn't know what to do for once. "Why doesn't the froggy remember...?"

"I don't remember anything that happened before yesterday. Grandma said I fell down and hit my head on the concrete and lost my memories. That's why I wear this hat now, to protect my head."

While Belphegor was disappointed that Fran didn't remember anything about what happened in the future -more specifically, Fran didn't remember him or all of the bittersweet times they spent with eachother- he was even more worried for the boy's well-being.

"Is the Froggy okay?", Bel found himself asking. He didn't understand why a surge of concern swelled inside of him; he _never _felt worried for anyone other than himself and this feeling was new. Why did he suddenly care if the Frog was _okay?! _

The younger nodded. "I don't remember anything that happened before a few days ago, but the doctor said that I should gain my memories later." Belphegor didn't know why some of the ache from his gut disappeared when he heard that, or why he felt a sudden surge of... hope maybe? Belphegor wasn't sure what the feeling was, he usually didn't feel anything other than smugness and the desire to hurt others. But he did know that the thought of the Frog regaining his memories... comforted him a little.

The other Varia members chose this time to burst out of the forest onto the bank of the river, where they joined Bel and stood beside him. Xanxus stared at Fran, who was still engaged in a staring contest with Bel and didn't even seem to notice the new men. Bel was much the same, he just couldn't look away from the boy's teal eyes to acknowledge the presence of his team. Looking into those eyes made him feel... connected to Fran? He didn't know how to explain it... he just knew it felt rather nice.

"VOOOIIIII Stop being creepy little bastards and LETS GO"

"Trash shut the hell up or I'll rip that girly hair out of your head."

"EXCUSE YOU?! MY HAIR IS NOT GIRLY-"

"Awww Squalo honey, don't get offended you know that Xanxus' way of telling you he loves you~," Lussuria cooed.

"VVVVVVVOOOOIIII?!"

"That is not true, you're all nothing but trash that I keep to do my dirty work," Xanxus replied coldly.

"That's right boss!", Levi enthusiastically added.

"Shut up trash", Xanxus effectively put a damper on Levi's suddenly happy mood.

Meanwhile they had all forgotten about the blond and the illusionist. By now the boy had broken eye contact with Bel, after what felt like ages, and was back to standing in the river mumbling to himself. As everyone- excluding Bel, Fran and Mammon (Bel had already noticed that Mammon wandered off elsewhere, but he didn't really care)- bickered like they normally did, the blond watched Fran. The small illusionist looked very uninterested in what was happening around him and was successfully ignoring the group or loud, big men.

Bel walked into the water towards Fran and discovered that the water only reached his waist. He tapped Fran's shoulder and the boy turned around before looking at him blankly. "What do you want, familiar emo blond guy?"

A vein throbbed on the blond's forehead but he smirked nonetheless. "Shishishi~ Would the stupid apple-headed froggy like for the prince to take him away from these ugly peasants?"

Fran stared at the rebellious teen with his usual stoic expression. "Who's _the prince?_", he questioned with his vapid voice.

"Ushishi~ I am the prince~"

"Eh? That's stupid. You shouldn't talk about yourself in third person, fake-prince-sempai."

The 'fake prince' could practically feel his patience snap, because he _really didn't need the kid to insult him every other sentence instead of just calling him by his name, _but he decided to keep himself under control for once (because no matter what other people thought, he _did _have _some _self control). After all, he didn't want to kill the only person who could survive his knife attack-even if Fran technically cheated by using his hat as a shield (princes don't care for details). Anyways, Bel had already decided that he wouldn't kill the young boy. He would never admit it, but he thinks that he might not even be able to.

"You could either come with the prince or stay here with these loud peasants~", he grinned widely.

The blond man had a point. Fran wasn't used to people being so loud and obnoxious. His grandmother was a very quiet woman. He knew that he could easily just ignore the loud people, as he had been doing before, but the blond before him _really _looked familiar and even _felt_ and _sounded_ familiar to Fran, which didn't make any sense but Fran decided that there must be a reason he felt so comfortable around the other man. He felt even more comfortable with the man than with his grandma.

Fran let his gaze wander back to the grinning blond in front of him. "Okay, fallen prince. I'll come with you, but only because these people are an eyesore."

Bel's smirk widened and he inwardly praised himself on how well he was keeping himself controlled. "Come on, then." He walked passed the other members of the Varia without being noticed- or maybe they saw him and just didn't care- and Fran followed him. His face was impassive as ever while he trailed behind the psychotic blond. "Oh, and call me Bel~" he added as an afterthought. He wanted Fran to stop calling him stupid things and just use his name.

"Bell. Like, jingle bells."

Bel giggled slightly while shaking his head. "No, stupid Froggy. Bel like B-E-L. As in, short for Belphegor."

"Hmm..." Fran thought for a moment. "Belphegor." Fran said it like he was testing the name to see if it sounded right and even though it was slightly mispronounced, it sent a delicious shiver through Bel. Hearing his name spoken so tenderly by the child filled him with a weird warmth that he couldn't ignore.

"U-Um, just Bel is fine", and Belphegor _did n__ot _stutter because Princes _do __not _studder so he absolutely _did_ _not_ do that. Okay? Okay. He had to admit though, hearing Fran call him Belphegor all the time would probably drive him crazy. Well, crazier than he already was.

"Okay. Bel," Fran said this in the same way that he said 'Belphegor' before but this time the warmth that fills Bel's stomach is more manageable.

Belphegor and Fran walked along the edge of the lake in comfortable silence as it widened into a small pond, far away from the others. Bel honestly thought that was probably the longest he had went without speaking and now that he was thinking about it, it was probably the longest he had went without calling himself a Prince as well.

"Ushishishi~ Look, there are some of your buddies~", Bel said just for the sake of speaking and pointed to a group of frogs who were hopping around on some rocks near the edge of the lake. Fran's nose scrunched up as he stared at the slimy creatures. "Bel. Why do you keep saying that I'm a frog?"

"Well, it's because you're all slimy and gross and ugly like a frog shishishi~"

"That's not true." Fran retorted tonelessly and Bel just grinned again.

Fran looked at the frogs that were still jumping around. He felt an unfamiliar twinge in his gut as he watched them hop away together.

"Bel. Have you ever felt lonely."

The sudden question/statement threw Bel off and he looked at the young boy beside him thoughtfully.

"... Eh...", Bel didn't know how to answer that unexpected question. Usually, he was surrounded by the other Varia members. Living with them meant that he was hardly ever alone, even when he wanted to be. His childhood is a different story though...

"Hm. The prince can't say that he has," the blond smoothly lied.

A very small, microscopic, infinitesimal amount of disappointment gleamed in Fran's teal orbs, which even Bel's trained eyes had to strain to catch, as the younger boy looked down. "Oh"

The self-proclaimed prince frowned slightly, not sure why he actually felt sympathetic to someone for once in his life. "Do _you _feel lonely Froggy?" is all he can think to ask.

Fran looked up at him with the same emotionless mask on that he always wears and nodded silently. Bel blinked because for a minute it seemed like Fran was a bit sad. He realized then that Fran is just a person. He's just a person that's misunderstood, much like Bel. The teal-haired boy does feel things, as normal people do, he just hides them and pretends to not have emotions. Suddenly, pictures of a young boy around Fran's age flashed into his mind. The boy had long blond hair and frowned constantly.

Bel's obscured eyes widened. Fran was staring to remind him of himself when he was younger. He entertained that thought for a moment. He was always alone and sad as a child, is that how Fran feels now? Bel was sometimes left alone for days or even weeks at a time, and that made his childhood absolutely terrible. He wouldn't want this kid to have a childhood like his. He grew up all fucked up because of that. For some reason he found himself not wanting Fran to end up like him. He felt somewhat responsible for the younger boy.

Belphegor kneeled down to the other's height and smiled as best as he could. He was out of practice at smiling so it came out as more of one of his signature grins but the kid didn't seem to mind, or even notice, at all. "Would the Froggy like for the prince to keep him company?"

Fran blinked in mild but hidden confusion "Would you do that."

"Ushishi~ If you would come live in Italy with me and my team mates then you would be able to see me every day~"

Fran thought for a moment. He didn't like living with only his grandma because she slept all day and her bentos were nasty. But, he didn't know how he felt about living will all of those loud people that he saw earlier.

He liked this blond guy though and wanted to see him more often. His grandma hardly ever talked to him and he didn't like being left alone. He had no friends because all the kids his age thought he was weird and didn't like his odd voice and hair. Being a child, he nodded, not knowing how dangerous the Varia were. "Okay," he stated quietly. He hoped this man didn't stop liking him like everyone else did.

Belphegor grinned widely and ruffled his hair.

And that's how it all started.

**End of Chapter 1**

**And that's a wrap. I think this version is better, don't you~? This is also on AO3 under the name Hannah_Hibari_Thominho.**

**R&amp;R Please~ But only if you want to.**


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